With three sports to master, triathletes have no small task in rising to the pinnacle of the sport and competing at the Olympic Games. Balancing the demands of swimming, cycling and running is a physical challenge as well as a mental one and it is easy to neglect one in favour of the other or for a weakness to become a strength while a strength becomes a weakness. That balancing challenge is also part of what makes triathlon such an intriguing proposition for newcomers to the sport. Anecdotally, we can speak to more runners, rowers, swimmers and cyclists that have picked up triathlon than we can shake a stick at.
At the elite level, too, we see world-class athletes make the move over to triathlon from other disciplines. Several of these athletes have subsequently competed at the upper tiers of triathlon. One obvious example of this is Tommy Zaferes, who competed in the 200m butterfly at US Olympic Swimming Trials in 2008. Later as a triathlete, he podiumed at the World Cup level with a 3rd place in Tongyeong in 2014 and achieved a best WTCS finish of 24th at Hamburg in 2015.
Another American to make the move over to triathlon was Alan Webb. A former track star, being the American record holder in the mile no less (running 3 minutes 46.91 seconds) and a 2004 Olympian, Webb made his foray into international triathlon in 2014. He was part of the US team that came 5th at the Mixed Relay World Championships in Hamburg in 2014 and he finished 56th in his sole WTCS appearance in Abu Dhabi in 2015.
In the current WTCS field, Beth Potter ran the 10,000m at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and has since transformed into a WTCS medallist.
What we are interested in finding in this article, however, are the dual-sport triathletes. How often is it the case that an active triathlete can take on world-class opposition in another sporting discipline?
As it happens, there are several instances to note.
Our parameters for what counts as a “dual-sport triathletes” are those that competed at a continental or world level, such as European Championships or World Championships, whether Junior or Senior, at the same time they were fully engaged in elite triathlon. We are looking for simultaneous accomplishments rather than those that ascended to a high level in one sport and then moved over to triathlon.
When we refer to dual-sport, we do not count long distance triathlon or cross triathlon as a distinct sport to Olympic distance racing. We consider long distance a different area and although we absolutely acknowledge the unique achievements of Kristian Blummenfelt in mastering both disciplines, that does not represent a triathlete stepping beyond the bounds of triathlon.
We start with two of the bona-fide stars of the sport, individual Olympic silver medallists Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee. Both were dual-sport athletes on their rise to the top.
Alex Yee competed in cross-country and raced the 10,000m on the track at the European Athletics Championships in 2018. Later that year, he achieved his first World Cup podium in Weihai. As British 10km champion, he legitimately could have been a threat on the track full-time and was within striking distance of the British U23 10km record.
Meanwhile, Georgia Taylor-Brown competed for Great Britain in cross-country at World and European Junior Championships (in Poland and Serbia, respectively) in 2013. That year, she won the European Junior Championships in triathlon and came 2nd at the World Junior Championships. (For reference, she came 4th at European Junior Cross Country Championships and 17th at World Junior Cross Country Championships). Her running prowess is therefore no surprise given her elite background.
At the same 2013 World Junior Cross Country Championships, another WTCS gold medallist took the start line. Jacob Birtwhistle represented Australia in the Junior Men’s race that day, finishing 41st. In that season he would also take the Oceanian title in the Junior Men’s category in triathlon while also placing 6th at World Junior Championships in triathlon, a position he would improve to 2nd in 2014.
Cassandre Beaugrand competed at the 2014 World Juniors Athletics Championships in Oregon, America, placing 10th in the 1500 in 4:17.04. That year, she raced on the WTCS level, took 2nd in the World Junior Championships in triathlon and won the French National Triathlon title. On an interesting side note, her brother raced in the pool at European Junior Swimming Championships so sporting talent clearly runs in the family.
Lisa Tertsch of Germany raced at European Junior Cross Country Championships in Slovakia in 2017, placing 18th, which came less than a year after she took silver at the 2016 World Junior Championships in triathlon. One quirk of history is that Terstch was not the only elite triathlete in the field in Slovakia in 2017.
Alberte Kjaer-Pedersen of Denmark also raced in the Junior Women category in Slovakia and finished 8th. She later competed at the 2021 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland, racing the 3000m.
Later that year Kjaer-Pedersen won the World Cup in Huatulco and came 2nd at the World U23 Championships, cementing her status as a world-class triathlete. Her 3000m time of 9:00.80 in Poland was also a Danish National Record and thus was perhaps the clearest hint going into the triathlon season of her abilities. Given that kind speed, it should not have been surprising in hindsight that she had by far and away the best run of the women’s field at U23 Worlds and logged a split that beat almost all of the elite women in the WTCS Edmonton race on an almost identical course.
One last name to note is Jule Behrens. In 2021 the German athlete became World Junior Champion in triathlon just a couple of months after racing the 5000m at the European Junior Championships in athletics in Estonia.
We do not want to totally ignore the track speed of the likes of Hayden Wilde and Alistair Brownlee, both of whom have logged impressive 5k and 10k times. However neither has yet qualified for an international team on the track, making them fantastic triathletes but not dual-sport internationals.
The above list is by no means exhaustive so please feel free to share in the comments any athletes we may have missed.
